[nagdu] Well everyone, time to give up our dogs

Meghan Whalen mewhalen at gmail.com
Wed May 23 15:51:16 UTC 2012


I will be sure to let Dayton know that soon, his heart will be broken on 
a daily basis as I can now leave him home thanks to science!  No work, 
ever again, poor poor abused and unloved dog who hates his job so much.  
This kind of thing makes me so so sick.  I am so tired of people who 
think these dogs do not like their job.  If they don't like the work, 
they are adopted out, not asked to do the work.  People can be so dense 
sometimes.

Meghan
On 5/22/2012 5:55 PM, Margo and Arrow wrote:
> Oh, so, we just use guide dogs indoors and this is supposed to help us 
> get anywhere we want to go?  Uh, no, not!
>
> Margo andArrow
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Aaron Cannon" 
> <cannona at fireantproductions.com>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 6:51 PM
> Subject: [nagdu] Well everyone, time to give up our dogs
>
>
> Wow!  Just wow!  I'll let the article speak for itself.  Just be sure
> not to miss the priceless quote from PETA at the end.
>
>
> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112539355/indoor-navigation-system-gives-guide-dogs-a-rest/ 
>
>
> Indoor Navigation System Gives Guide Dogs A Rest
> May 21, 2012
>
> Helen Keller, perhaps the most famous activist for the visually
> impaired once said, “It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our
> powers, but for powers
> equal to our tasks, to go forward with a great desire forever beating
> at the door of our hearts as we travel toward our distant goal.”
>
> Empowerment of the visually impaired took another step forward this
> month with the presentation of Navatar, an indoor navigation system.
> Navatar, which
> was developed by a University of Nevada, Reno computer science
> engineering team, is an improvement on existing systems because it
> relies primarily on existing
> smartphone technology and not on less practical and bulky sensors.
>
> “Existing indoor navigation systems typically require the use of
> expensive and heavy sensors, or equipping rooms and hallways with
> radio-frequency tags
> that can be detected by a handheld reader and which are used to
> determine the user’s location,” said Kostas Bekris, of the UNR College
> of Engineering’s
> Robotics Research Lab. “This has often made the implementation of such
> systems prohibitively expensive, with few systems having been
> deployed.”
>
> In conjunction with two-dimensional, digital architectural maps that
> are widely available, the smartphone-based Navatar uses the device’s
> accelerometer
> and compass to navigate its user. The system is able to guide people
> with visual impairments down hallways and into rooms through audible
> instructions
> similar to those given by GPS devices made for autos.
>
> “Nevertheless, the smartphone’s sensors, which are used to calculate
> how many steps the user has executed and her orientation, tend to pick
> up false signals,”
> said Eelke Folmer, who worked on the project.”To synchronize the
> location, our system combines probabilistic algorithms and the natural
> capabilities of
> people with visual impairments to detect landmarks in their
> environment through touch, such as corridor intersections, doors,
> stairs and elevators.”
>
> Folmer explained that Navatar ‘listens’ for voice prompts or a button
> push on a Bluetooth-enabled device from the user to confirm the
> presence of these
> landmarks. This means the system can work to assist the user in
> conjunction with their typical routine for navigation, including the
> use of a cane.
>
> On his website, Folmer noted that the system has a “high possibility
> of large-scale deployment” because it only requires a simple digital
> representation
> of an indoor environment can be sketched up with simple design drawing
> programs that could be downloaded from a building’s Wi-Fi network. The
> UNR team
> also performed a study involving 12 blindfolded and six blind users to
> demonstrate the feasibility of their system.
>
> While the system was able to track users within 1.85 meters of their
> actual location, the researchers were able to identify several areas
> for improvement.
> Based on feedback from test subjects, the team’s report said improving
> Navatar’s accuracy, making it able to repeat directions, and having it
> capable of
> working from within in a pocket are all improvement they are considering.
>
> For their work on Navatar, Bekris and Folmer recently won a PETA
> Proggy Award for Leadership in Ethical Science. PETA recognized the
> system as an animal-friendly
> achievement because of its potential to decrease the reliance on guide
> dogs for the visually impaired.
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/margo.downey%40verizon.net 
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/mewhalen%40gmail.com





More information about the NAGDU mailing list